I am about to tackle this beast and I was wondering if any one has first hand experience/advice/comments on the kit:
Thanks in advance
Steve[^]
It is a nice kit. You don’t say which version you have, but it is an old kit, and it shows it’s age in this day of computer-aided mold making. Still, you should have no trouble making a beauty of it. After all, how can you make an ugly F-104?
There are a number of nice, colorful aftermarket decal sheetsand some parts for this model, and the Revell Germany large-scale Starfighter as well, and I imagine the decals at least are pretty interchangeable.
BTW, the Hasegawa Starfighter is now listed as out of production, so those who want one, snap it up if you run across it.
TOM
The 1/32 Hasegawa F-104?
Listed as OOP by who? The shelves are still crawlin’ with 'em in Japan! Of course, that doesn’t mean they’re not OOP at the moment, but it does mean that they are plentiful. Cheap, too, at around $25 USD. Hasegawa, like Tamiya, often pumps out batches of the “oldies but goodies” at regular intervals, so I’m sure we’ll be seeing that old kit on the shelves for decades to come.
Aside from raised panel lines (a personal preference thing, anyway) it’s a very nice kit.
Good points. All the 1/32 scale kits are generally easy to find, even though I don’t think they’re ever in “regular production.” Like J-Hulk said, they crank out a bunch, then shut down for a while. There are PLENTY of them out there.
Matt @ FSM
(Who has a big stockpile of Hasegawa 1/32 F-104s and Me-162 Komets, just 'cause they’re so cool!)
I’ve got the USAF version, comes with SAC markings and a displayable engine. Aft fuselage comes off. I wonder why trumpeter doesn’t do that kind of thing?
I KNOW where there’s a Hasagawa 1/32 F-104G/J starfighter kit is (or was the last time I KNEW) that should be relatively easy to get, and cheap!!!
Sharkskin
Where are the decals for this kit for sale?
I’ve been around this hobby way too long to believe it when Hasegawa or Tamiya say that a kit is “out of production.” So I should have worded it more carefully. Let’s say the Aluminum Death Tube is out of production until they can find a new way to market it.
As for my source, Hulk, it was close to home for you – HobbyLink Japan, my new favorite hobby distributor. They have a vast array or kits, books, accessories, you name it. Often on such things as Tamiya, you can’t beat the price, even with the postage. And on four orders in the past two months, the longest I’ve had to wait is seven days from Japan. I’ve also found fantastic AM parts from companies I’ve never heard of, and have purchased immaculate turned brass cannon barrels and pitot tubes, as well as metal gun barrels with flared muzzles, though still hollow. For fine detail, you just can’t beat that.
Check out their catalogue at www.hlj.com. They also list two of the four great 1/32 Hasegawa “between the wars” fighters as out of production. I forget when ones, but the P-26 was not among them, though I think the P-12 was, and one of the Navy birds whose type I forget. These are over thirty years old and still great kits.
TOM
HLJ is certainly a good source! Scott most definitely knows his stuff, and does an excellent job running HLJ.
Living in Japan, I get plenty of email from folks in the US and Europe asking me to buy and send hobby items to them, but I refer them to HLJ every time. HLJ is cheaper and quicker than I could ever be!
As for the 1/32 F-104, I’ve wanted to do a JASDF version for a while now. Maybe now’s the time!